The Loose Women finally agree on something - they all love their mums

One thing the presenters of Loose Women are in total agreement about is their love for their mums. Here, in a Mother’s Day tribute, the hosts of the ITV progamme open their hearts about what makes the relationship so complicated – and so special

Sherrie Hewson

Mother's Day is bittersweet for me. Although I am filled with all the wonderful memories I can’t help but remember the devastating impact my mum Joy’s death two years ago had on me

Last year, as I continued to try to get on with life without her, I became very depressed. I actually think I was having a breakdown but I kept on working. I realise I probably should have talked to someone about the grief and all the feelings I’ve had since. And it’s only now that I am beginning to make sense of it all. You see I always felt I never lived up to mum’s successes – her glamour, her brilliance and her knowledge of everything.

She was a beautiful model and successful businesswoman. Everything she did just turned to gold. But she was could be quite critical and sometimes controlling. I couldn’t bring myself to see her when she was dying so my daughter went. And when she passed away after having a stroke, I don’t feel like I had closure. I’ve felt so much anger over the months because of how weak and pathetic I was around her. I stayed in a marriage 19 years longer than I should have because I thought if I leave him I’ll be back with my mum and that scared me for lots of reasons. I never said, ‘look mum, you’ve got to stop manipulating me and making me your life.

Do you know what this is doing to me? It’s suffocating. Stop it!’ I was too afraid, and now it’s too late to say it. I am so terrified some of her traits are inside me and I will start trying to control my daughter Keeley. I keep checking myself, thinking, ‘please god, don’t let me turn into mum.’ But then, a few months ago, somebody said something that has started to help me heal. They turned to me and said: “Do you realise you’ve had such a long, fabulous career? You reinvent yourself every decade, you’re always working.

That’s what your mother taught you. You should look back and thank her for giving you those things – you’re a fighter, a survivor.’ And do you know what, she’s right, so I won’t let myself feel low this Mother’s Day and I’ll just focus on being the best mum I can. Thank you, Mum for making me the person I am today.

Nadia Sawalha

We will have a huge celebration today – and all the mums will definitely have more fizz than they should!

Other than that it will go something like this: I’ll fill the house with daffodils and buy my mum Roberta a finger of fudge (it’s a tradition). We’ll get the mother-in-law over, my nan-in-law, who’s 91, and the kids. I’ll rustle up something and it’ll most likely be a beef wellington and hazelnut meringue, because they’re two of mum’s favourite dishes.

Whatever happens they’ll be lots of laughter and she’ll probably have one too many and start swearing like a trooper. It really amuses me because she was never like that before. When I turned into a young adult, all the rules suddenly went out of the window. She was a really strict mum, in many respects. We were never allowed to buy ice-cream from an ice-cream van, because she told us they were poisonous. I actually believed that until I was 20.

As for biscuits, they had to be home-made, not shop bought. But it was her passion for cooking that inspired me and that has really influenced the latter part of my career. When I was a kid I could smell her food wafting through the letter-box when I got off the bus. From the age of about eight mum would let me and my sister take over the kitchen and cook whatever we fancied. I always say, I didn’t win Celebrity Masterchef – my whole family did.

My mum is from a generation that wasn’t as affectionate as I am with my girls. I think I’ve balanced things out by being very affectionate with my kids. But I never felt unsupported. Whatever hair-brained scheme I had, she always told me I could do it. She has always had this great enthusiasm – she still does – and I love her for that with all my heart.

Andrea Mclean

People may find this hard to believe but my beloved mum, Betty, and I have never once argued. We’re just not argumentative people. Being a mum-of-two myself, I know how tricky that relationship can be. I’m expected to be the fun one, the loving one, the disciplinarian. But I’m still quite relaxed and that ‘steady eddie’ side of me comes from her.

There’s no fuss or fanfare but she’s that quietly supportive rock I’ve really needed – perhaps the most after my second divorce to Steve a few years ago. My parents were living in Chester at the time but very quickly sold their house and moved in with me. I was already in my forties but thanks to them I was never alone. Infact, having them there really helped with that transition in my life. I’ve drawn a line under ever marrying again but mum doesn’t lecture me about that.

We’re very mindful of protecting each other too. While they were staying with me I had a breast cancer scare. I was in the shower when I found a lump. Turns out it was just fibrous tissue, but I waited until I had the all-clear from the Royal Marsden to share the news. Mum said, ‘why didn’t you tell me?’ but I reminded her she’s just the same. When she found a lump 16 years ago she only told me because she was living in Kenya and wanted me to help her find a UK doctor! It drives my dad, Jack, insane that we’re both so similar and that he’s always the last to know things.

As a child I thought my mum was incredibly glamorous – and I’ll never forget the smell of her Opium perfume as she kissed me goodnight – but I took her for granted. Don’t most children? But the older she gets – mum is 67 now – the more I appreciate her. I’m so thankful that she only lives five minutes away from me in Surrey now. I’m becoming more aware that she won’t be here forever and I love spending lots of time with her. We haven’t got a Mother’s Day plan but I imagine all the family will come to mine – and that, for me, couldn’t be more perfect.

Linda Robson

I’ve been in the acting business 46 years now but I’d never have been able to do shows like Birds Of A Feather if it wasn’t for my mum, Rita. She’d look after my three kids, along with my husband Mark and sisters Tina and Debbie. She taught me that family comes first and I’ve learnt by example. Now my daughter Lauren has a two-year-old called Lila, I make sure I take two days off each week to look after her. Mum was always there for me, right up until she passed away in a hospice two years ago.

We’ll go to her grave on Mother’s Day with the family but it won’t be a sad time. The cemetery is beautiful and the kids love it there. They’ll bring her a can of Diet Coke for a joke because it’s all she ever drank. She was a terribly fussy-eater, see. Maybe it’s because when she grew up in Dublin – she was one of 13 kids – they were poor and never had a very varied diet.

She had some funny quirks. She was obsessed with recycling and I’ve clearly inherited that – I’m OCD about taking the rubbish out!

She had an odd thing about my neck too. She’d always pass comment on it being scraggy so I wear scarves now. There was no mincing her words.

I know I annoyed her when I was a kid. She threw a raw egg at me once when I gave her some cheek. It actually managed to break a window. And she called me ‘baggy mouth’ because I’d often lie about things. She was always such a neat, well-presented woman, and I was the sort that went to pick my kids up from school in pjyamas!

I look back at her feeling a huge amount of love. Her pictures fill my house and she’ll never be forgotten.

Kaye Adams

My mum Cathie taught me the most important lesson in life - that being a woman doesn’t have any limits.

She made me realise that you can always be a success whatever career you turn your hand to. She ran a road haulage company with my dad. It was a very male environment but that didn’t stand in her way – and seeing her work ethic has been invaluable to me. I’ve never thought, ‘I can’t do this’ in my career, thanks to her.

I used to joke with mum that I was a latch-key kid because she was always working such long hours. ‘You know Shirely’s mum gets her scones at six o’clock,’ I’d say, knowing I’d make her feel guilty for not always being there. The truth is, I never felt neglected though.

She’d never sweat the small things – like ticking me off for a messy room – because she didn’t have the time too. But she has always been there as a safety net for me. I’m very independent, but if things go tits up, I know who to turn to.

When my eldest, Charlie, was born I had the baby blues and I was really low. My partner was working abroad at the time but I’d go home to my parent’s, who live just outside Glasgow, every weekend. I was having a meltdown but she looked at me and said, ‘Kaye, this is not your baby - it’s our baby.’ Just hearing those simple words changed everything for me. She slipped into SOS mode and took over. She made things better.

These days I always plan to do something big for Mother’s Day, like go to a spa, but then it comes round and I never seem to hit the jackpot. Mum appreciates a nice card with nice words though so I’ll make sure she has that. And we’ll definitely have a bun and a cuppa.